


Untitled

by Naberrie



Category: Original Work
Genre: Drowning, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-07
Updated: 2012-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26757502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naberrie/pseuds/Naberrie
Summary: I wrote this in 2012 for freshman lit/comp Halloween assignment to write a horror story. I believe I edited it at some point during high school, but I definitely haven't touched it in recent memory. I thought this might be fun to post seeing as this is eight years old this month. I was going through an Edgar Allan Poe phase at the time. I received an A at the time but you know. Freshman standards. Would be very interested in feedback even though my writing has definitely matured beyond this. Enjoy!





	Untitled

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Adelaide was terrified as she moved closer to the cliff side. Below her, waves crashed and fought, white foam like the blood in a battle. The violent splashes as the waves collided with the sheer cliff face almost drowned out the pitiful cries for help coming from about a hundred yards out to sea.

She turned back for one last glance at her friends, all too mouse-hearted to do what she was about to do. They stood with their mouths open at her bravery, and a few even looked terrified for her.

"Call the coast guard," she said, pulling off her cover-up to reveal a hot pink bikini. For once she didn't worry about how fat she looked in it.

She looked out to sea one last time, noticing dark clouds growing on the horizon. She breathed shakily and glanced back one more time before sucking in one last mouthful of air and diving off the cliff.

For a few short seconds, she was surrounded by nothing. There was only the sound of wind whistling by and the pure exhilaration filling her mind.

Then she hit the water.

It was colder than she expected, much colder. She nearly gasped in surprise, which would have almost certainly meant death.

Stunned, she felt the current moving her but was unable to do much. After a few seconds that crawled by like millennia, the adrenaline kicked in.

She viciously clawed her way to the surface, fighting against the currents threatening to pound her against the very cliff off of which she had jumped.

When she broke the surface, gasping for air, she found that the storms she had seen growing on the horizon had been moving faster than she had perceived. However, she had no time to waste watching the lightning as the waves took her prisoner, wrapping their watery arms around her.

She struggled to break free as the cliff face grew ever closer. All of her thoughts were focused on survival instead of the reason she had dove in the first place. A rock scraped her foot, surely bruising it, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain.

Her hand touched another rock, this one breaking the surface of the water. This one she grabbed onto, finding a handhold. She clutched at it for dear life, for indeed her life depended upon how long she could hold the slippery rock.

The wave reluctantly released its prisoner, and she waited in the wake of her would-be executioner. It took her barely a second to recover and she pulled herself up onto the top of the rock. 

She crossed her arms, a barrier against the cold and looked out towards the sea. Adelaide could no longer hear the cries of help, but she had to check anyway. There was no point in almost dying if she couldn't save someone.

She allowed herself no time for second thoughts and dove off the rock. This time she expected the rough waters and used her arms to pull herself deeper until she felt the waves' effect decrease. Her eyes strained against the darkness, seeing shadows moving that she knew had to be figments of her imagination kicked into overdrive by adrenaline.

She pulled herself along, eyes open, until she felt as if her lungs were about to burst. She pulled herself up, this time ready for the waves.

But it was deathly still.

She treaded water, looking around wildly. Mist had surrounded her, and there were no waves. Her breathing sped up, becoming quick and shallow.

Adelaide forced herself to calm down. She had to stay calm. Chances were that she had hit her head and was drowning. She had to pull through.

She took a deep breath and dove under again.

There was no light except for a greenish glow coming from above the surface. Below her was blackness, reaching an indeterminate depth. She stared at it for a few seconds before pushing her way to the surface again.

There was still no change. She swam a few yards, looking for shallower land or a better view through the mist, but to no avail.

Tears began to fill her eyes as she cried out. "Please! Is anyone there?" All she heard were echoes of her own words, bounced back and forth across the sky.

"Where am I?" She tried again, trying different questions. Each time she strained her ears, but the only sound was her own heartbeat and pitiful splashes.

Adelaide's energy was running low. Her breathing was shallower, her strokes losing the impact. Her head was leaned back to conserve energy, her hair swirling out behind her like a crown.

In the sky, there were no stars. There was no moon. It was just inky blackness, like what was beneath her.

"Is this it, then?" she cried into the night. "No light at the end if the tunnel, just abyss?"

Her body was trembling from the cold, and she slipped back under to get one last purposeful look at what was beneath her.

That's when she saw them. Shadows rising out of the dark, somehow even blacker than the abysmal shadow below her. She let out a soundless scream and reached for the surface.  
It felt as if someone had taken a rock and tied it to her ankle. She sank deeper and deeper, and the water that had been lukewarm moments before was now ice cold.

Then she saw them, the shadows, surrounding her. "What do you want?" She tried to ask, but it only came out as a few bubbles. Her salty tears mixed with the salty ocean.

They moved closer and closer, and she realised what it was... A hunt.

Swimming up was useless, so she did the only thing she could think of: swim down. A mistake.

The darkness overtook her in seconds. She was unable to move, much less swim. But her mouth begged to open, her lungs poised to do what they do best.

Her tears blended with the ocean, and for a moment she wondered if that was the reason why the sea was salty- if it was really made of tears.

And then she opened her mouth and her lungs filled. Her vision and other senses darkened.

There was a bright light and many sounds around her. Sirens and babblings, crying and yelling... Adelaide yearned to just scream for everyone to shut up.

But Adelaide never opened her mouth again.


End file.
